Intellectual Property

  • March 25, 2024

    InBev's Modelo Loses 2nd Circ. Appeal In Hard Seltzer Fight

    The Second Circuit said Monday that a licensing agreement between Anheuser-Busch InBev SA and Constellation Brands was ambiguous about whether hard seltzers are beer, affirming a New York federal judge's order to let jurors decide the question at a trial where Constellation Brands prevailed against claims of trademark infringement.

  • March 25, 2024

    Jury Hands Mortgage Co. $73K Win In Trade Secrets Fight

    An Ohio federal jury has found that Revolution Mortgage owes just over $73,700 to competitor Equity Resources in a case where Equity accused its rival of misappropriation of trade secrets.

  • March 25, 2024

    Bloomberg Asks To Toss Ex-Gov. Huckabee's AI Class Action

    Media company Bloomberg has asked a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss it from a proposed class action led by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, arguing that the plaintiffs' complaint lacks specifics detailing how their e-books' copyrights were allegedly infringed to train Bloomberg's large language model.

  • March 25, 2024

    Ownership Suit Over McCartney, Jagger Recordings Is Tossed

    A Pennsylvania federal judge said Monday that no copyright dispute exists between the son of a music producer who recorded interviews with rock icons such as Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger and a man who sold the collection, reasoning that the son had no right to the recordings because they were never registered for copyrights with the federal government.

  • March 25, 2024

    Pool Co. Objects To Rival Counsel's Exit After $15M Verdict

    A swimming pool equipment supply company that won a $15 million verdict against a competitor in North Carolina federal court is now attempting to block the rival's counsel from leaving the case, saying the company may use the loss of its attorneys as justification for delaying final judgment.

  • March 25, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Rethink AbbVie Privilege Ruling

    The Third Circuit refused Monday to reconsider a ruling that found AbbVie was unable to show a lower court went against precedent or made errors when ordering the drugmaker to turn over attorney communications from a patent case allegedly meant to delay an AndroGel rival.

  • March 25, 2024

    Vidal Vacates Denials Of Challenges To Neo Wireless IP

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has thrown out Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions not to review whether Neo Wireless patents are invalid in challenges brought by Honda and others.

  • March 25, 2024

    Schuh, Simmi Want To Give Naked Wolfe Designs The Boot

    Two U.K. shoe retailers have accused the owner of the Naked Wolfe brand of bringing meritless intellectual property claims against them, because its shoe designs weren't original enough to deserve protection in the first place.

  • March 22, 2024

    Gilead's Win Upheld In Billion-Dollar HIV Drug Patent Case

    A Delaware federal judge on Friday largely upheld a jury's verdict rejecting the government's potentially billion-dollar claim that Gilead Sciences Inc. infringed patents covering HIV drugs, ruling that the jury was correct in finding Gilead didn't cause doctors and patients to infringe.

  • March 22, 2024

    Jury Says Dexcom Infringed 1 Abbott Patent In Mixed Verdict

    A Delaware federal jury decided Friday that Dexcom infringed a glucose monitor patent owned by an Abbott Laboratories unit, cleared it of infringing two others and hung on a fourth, setting up a later damages trial in the latest facet of a globe-spanning legal dispute between the companies.

  • March 22, 2024

    Disney Can't Slip Patent Claims In Suit Over Thanos VFX Tech

    A California federal judge has kept alive a visual effects company's patent infringement claims alleging The Walt Disney Co. unlawfully used its technology to create iconic Marvel film characters, such as Thanos and the Hulk, but once again tossed its claims of copyright infringement.

  • March 22, 2024

    Edible Arrangements' Prior Deal Forecloses IP Row With Rival

    A Georgia federal judge ended Edible Arrangements' trademark suit accusing 1-800-Flowers.com of bidding on and buying keywords related to Edible's products for search engine advertisements, finding the parties' prior settlement releasing 1-800-Flowers from similar conduct challenged by Edible in Connecticut federal court years ago barred its current action.

  • March 22, 2024

    Intel Seeks Delay Of VLSI Damages Retrial Due To Patent Ax

    Intel has asked Western District of Texas Judge Alan Albright to hold off on a damages retrial in a case where the Federal Circuit vacated a $1.5 billion chip patent verdict won by VLSI, saying the case should be held while VLSI appeals a decision invalidating the patent.

  • March 22, 2024

    Md. University Says Psilocybin Trade Theft Suit Belongs In US

    A London-based biochemical company cannot be allowed to escape across the pond with trade secrets related to using psilocybin as a mental health treatment, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, told a federal court, saying the company's minimum contacts with the state was its "months-long fraudulent scheme" to swipe intellectual property.

  • March 22, 2024

    Justices Asked To Review $36M Sanctions Order In TM Case

    A man who works in the field of marketing and ad copywriting has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a $36 million sanctions order against him and several companies in a trademark case.

  • March 22, 2024

    Inventor Urges High Court To Look At Fed. Circ. 1-Line Orders

    A businesswoman behind a small printing company is the latest litigant to head to the U.S. Supreme Court with complaints about the Federal Circuit's practice of issuing one-sentence Rule 36 orders.

  • March 22, 2024

    Artists Fight Image Generator Cos.' Bid To End Copyright Suit

    Artists suing four companies that make or distribute software that creates images with text prompts urged a California federal court to keep their proposed class action alive, telling a judge who dismissed most of their copyright claims that their amended complaint withstands the defendants' arguments for dismissal.

  • March 22, 2024

    Lutron Cleared On Shade Trade Dress Claims

    A New York federal judge has thrown out trade dress claims that GeigTech brought against home lighting fixtures company Lutron, writing that "there is no evidence that Lutron wanted members of the consuming public to think that it was selling J. Geiger shades."

  • March 22, 2024

    Accused Purveyor Of Tesla Trade Secrets Poised To Get Bail

    A New York federal judge on Friday agreed to let a China-based businessman out on bail under strict conditions while he faces accusations of plotting to sell trade secrets concerning battery technology that were stolen from Tesla.

  • March 22, 2024

    $900M Trade Secrets Case Against Kaiser Foundation Flops

    A California state judge has ruled that, after more than five years of litigation against the Kaiser Foundation, a pastor's small medical technology startup cannot "explain what was unique or secret about its conception for transmitting patient data" that was purportedly worth beyond $900 million.

  • March 22, 2024

    Vanda's Obviousness Appeal Isn't Worthwhile, Teva Tells Justices

    Teva Pharmaceuticals and Apotex have said the U.S. Supreme Court should reject a petition from Vanda Pharmaceuticals, which said the Federal Circuit "charted its own course" when it invalidated its sleep drug patents as obvious.

  • March 22, 2024

    DraftKings' Suit Is 'Character Assassination,' Former VP Says

    A former DraftKings executive picked apart a trade secret suit brought against him in Massachusetts federal court by his ex-employer, saying it's an attempt to "torch his reputation" with questionable evidence that also demonstrates the company's practice of smearing employees who leave for better opportunities.

  • March 22, 2024

    Parts Of Secret Recording Buried In Blackbeard Ship Suit

    A North Carolina state judge has ruled that parts of a secret recording of a 2014 meeting between the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the organization that discovered the pirate Blackbeard's sunken ship fall under attorney-client privilege and must be redacted as part of a contract dispute over footage and images of the ship.

  • March 22, 2024

    Apple TM Stands After TTAB Denies Musician's Bid To Cancel

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has denied a jazz musician's bid to cancel Apple Inc.'s trademark, rejecting his arguments that Apple abandoned the mark by not using it for entertainment services for at least three years.

  • March 22, 2024

    What Patent Attys Should Know About 5th Circ. Transfer Case

    Federal Circuit practitioners should have their eye on a precedential Fifth Circuit decision from earlier this month that provided new guidance on weighing factors used to analyze whether to transfer a case, in particular factors related to court congestion and convenience for witnesses.

Expert Analysis

  • How Cos. Can Protect Privacy In The Age Of AI

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    The rapidly developing landscape of generative AI and the related legal and regulatory concerns means that what is compliant today may not be tomorrow, and companies must take a pragmatic approach to compliance that anticipates future legal changes, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Opinion

    USPTO's Changes To Rule 704 Contain Some Inherent Risks

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    The USPTO's changes to Rule 704 relating to patent term adjustments is fraught with peril not only for the applicant but also personal jeopardy for any attorney who uses this rule, says Allen Hoover at Fitch Even.

  • Multiwork Statutory Licenses Offer Models For Generative AI

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    If courts do not find fair use to be an available defense for training large language models, then statutory licenses set forth in the Copyright Act's satellite and cable sections may provide potential standards for a multiwork, multistakeholder statutory license for generative AI purposes, says Gary Greenstein at Wilson Sonsini.

  • 7 NIL Considerations For Brand Deals With Student-Athletes

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    While the constantly changing laws, rules and regulations for name, image and likeness in collegiate athletics are difficult to navigate, the benefits of a brand's successful NIL marketing campaign can outweigh the challenge of traversing this complex framework, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Cos.' Trade Secret Measures Must Adjust To Remote-Work Era

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    Several recent cases demonstrate that companies need to reevaluate and adjust their trade secret protection strategies in this new age of remote work, says Stephanie Riley at Womble Bond.

  • White House AI Order Balances Innovation And Regulation

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    President Joe Biden’s recently issued executive order on artificial intelligence lays out a sprawling list of directives aimed at establishing standards for safety, security and privacy protection, and may help strike the balance between the freedom to innovate and the need to impose regulation in this rapidly evolving space, say Kristen Logan and Martin Zoltick at Rothwell Figg.

  • How Biden's AI Order Stacks Up Against Calif. And G7 Activity

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    Evaluating the federal AI executive order alongside the California AI executive order and the G7's Hiroshima AI Code of Conduct can offer a more robust picture of key risks and concerns companies should proactively work to mitigate as they build or integrate artificial intelligence tools into their products and services, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • ITC Ban On Apple Watch Could Still Be Reversed

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's recent final decision that the Apple Watch infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corp. was a rare instance of a popular consumer product being hit with an absolute importation ban, but it's possible that President Joe Biden could assert his power to reverse the ITC decision, says Benjamin Horton at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Examining US And Europe Patent Disclosure For AI Inventions

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    As applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office increasingly seek patent protection for inventions relating to artificial intelligence, the applications may require more implementation details than traditional computer-implemented inventions, including disclosure of data and methods used to train the AI systems, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Unlocking Value In Carve-Out M&A Transactions

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    Some of the largest mergers and acquisitions in 2023 were carve-out transactions, and despite their unique intricacies and challenges, these transactions offer both buyers and sellers the opportunity to generate outsized returns in an otherwise vigorously competitive landscape, when carefully planned and diligently executed, say Kevin Crews and Rami Totari at Kirkland.

  • Incontinence Drug Ruling Offers Key Patent Drafting Lessons

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    In a long-awaited decision in Astellas v. Teva and Sandoz, an English court found that the patent for a drug used to treat overactive bladder syndrome had not been infringed, highlighting the interaction between patent drafting and litigation strategy, and why claim infringement is as important a consideration as validity, says George McCubbin at Herbert Smith.

  • How Justices Could Rule On A Key Copyright Statute

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    Attorneys at Manatt discuss how the U.S. Supreme Court may choose to address a fundamental accrual issue in Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, which precedents the court may look to in analyzing the issue and the challenges copyright claimants may face going forward.

  • Fed. Circ. Elekta Holding May Make Patent Prosecution Harder

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    The Federal Circuit's recent analysis of obviousness in its Elekta v. Zap Surgical Systems decision will make prosecuting patents harder, as parties will now need to consider whether to argue that cited patents are nonanalogous, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm of Knobbe Martens.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Knicks Suit Shows Need For Leagues To Protect Big Data

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    The New York Knicks' recent lawsuit alleging a former employee took trade secrets to the Toronto Raptors shows sports leagues — both professional and amateur — should prepare for future litigation in this realm, given the growth of analytics and statistics in front offices, says Kevin Paule at Hill Ward Henderson.

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